If you are a regular reader of the site, you certainly know the procedure to get a Balikbayan Visa (Balikbayan Privilege) when you arrive in the Philippines.  You fly in to the Philippines with your Philippine spouse, she requests that you be given the Balikbayan Visa, and a 1 year Balikbayan Privilege stamp is placed […]

Some time back, I got a question from my friend Bill.  He was wondering about tourist visas. How long could Bill stay on his tourist visa? How often would he need to renew or extend his visa? Where could he do the renewal?  Would he have to travel far to do the extension? Well, as […]

Recently, I got a voicemail through SpeakPipe (if you have a question for me look for the orange button down near the bottom of this post and you can also leave a question for me through SpeakPipe) from Mr. Jay Stainback.  Who is Jay Stainback?  Well, Jay is Mr. Peanut Butter in the Philippines! Seriously, […]

There is lots of information about getting a 13(a) visa all over the Internet, even here on LiP.  But, of all of the answers available, not all of them go far enough.  Some of them only tell you what application to file, what supporting documents are needed, how much the fee is, stuff like that. […]

When you decide to move to another location in the world, everything is exciting.  Well, most everything. Fact is, most people who decide to move to the Philippines have some problems to deal with in addition to having exciting times ahead.  One of the biggest issues that causes a problem is often family. For most […]

Depending on the type of visa you have to live in the Philippines, your options to open a business may be quite limited, or your options may be wide open.  Like I say, it depends on your visa, but it also depends on what type of business you want to open.  Some types of businesses […]

A while back, I had a podcast about doing business in the Philippines.  What kind of visa would you need, what type of business could you do as an expat in the Philippines.  Today, based on some follow up questions that I got from that podcast, I want to dig a little deeper into the […]

If you are bigger than the average Filipino, and most of us westerners are, getting clothing that fits can be difficult if you live in the Philippines.  If you are a big westerner, and more and more westerners are quite big, getting clothes that you can even get on your body can be impossible in […]

Over my years of living in the Philippines, I have literally met thousands of expats.  Some have become friends, others I have only met once or twice.  There is one thing, though, that impacts nearly every single expat that I know or have met.  That thing is financial.  Nearly every expat that I have run […]

I recently published a book on the Amazon Kindle called Expat Answerman: Understanding Philippine Culture. A fellow named Jeff purchased the book, and enjoyed it, but found that he had a cultural question that was not covered in the book, so he contacted me and asked! I decided to make a podcast out out of […]